The Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie

by Gwendolyn Brooks

The Author

Gwendolyn Brooks is an African Americanpoet who was born on June 7, 1917 and died December 3, 2000. She wrote about the culture and world she knew: growing up black and poor in a prejudice, racist world. Her poems vary in genre and are colorful and powerful.

GENRE

This poem is a ballad. It is obvious, not only from the title, but from its structure:• Four-lined stanzas• Every other line rhymes (abcb)• It tells a story with a sad theme

The Story

“The Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie” is about a dark-skinned African American little girl who is seven-years-old. She has a crush on Willie Boone. Her heart is broken one day when Willie walks out of school with a light-skinned African American girl.

“Mabbie was cut from a chocolate bar”

The reader knows who Mabbie is from this

METAPHOR meaning that Mabbie is a dark-skinned African American.

Extended Chocolate Metaphor

The metaphor of chocolate extends throughout the poem. In stanza four, we see the idea of hot, bubbly chocolate:“Oh, warm is the waiting for joys, my dears!/And it cannot be too long./Oh pity the poor little chocolate lips/That carry the bubble of song!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujbVxzp_jlY

The warm chocolate metaphor is even hinted at in the adjective for Willie Boone:

Out came the saucily bold Willie Boone

Other MetaphorsThere are other metaphors in the poem:

• “The grammar school gates were the pearly gates” = school was like heaven

“He wore…a lemon-hued lynx” = a light skinned African American who was sleek and pretty like the wild cat – a lynx.

AlliterationBrooks also uses the literary technique of alliteration in this ballad – a lot!• grammar school gates• waiting for Willie Boone• warm is the waiting• pity the little poor chocolate lips• lemon-hued lynx

• Mabbie on Mabbie

• hush in the heart

Imagery

Brooks’ word choice and metaphors create a lot of imagery – words and phrases that appeal to our senses.

Examples of Imagery• Chocolate appeals to our senses of sight

(dark) and taste (sweet)• Warm appeals to our senses of touch and

taste• Saucily appeals to our sense of taste• Lemon-hued appeals to our sense of sight

(yellow) and taste (tart/bitter)• Pearly gates appeals to our sense of sight

MEANING

To me, this poem about self-acceptance and not feeling as pretty or as good as another person is even more poignant, because it focuses on children.

It is sad that at a very young age, children begin to recognize non-acceptance and wanting to fit into an acceptable mold in society.